


A Private Conversation

by Musetotheworld



Series: Tumblr Prompt Fills [12]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Pre-Relationship, artist!AU, in less salty news for the night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 23:32:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9851966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musetotheworld/pseuds/Musetotheworld
Summary: James wants to feature a very private artist's work in CatCo magazine. Cat agrees, with one caveat. She gets to meet the artist.





	

“An entire page for the winner of an art contest, really James?” Cat gripes as she shuffles through the layouts he’d brought for her approval. “I know the arts are important, but an entire page sounds a little excessive.”

James doesn’t shrink back, too used to her criticisms to give in so easily when he wants something. It’s one of the benefits of hiring people who’d known her as more than Cat Grant Media Mogul, they know when to stand their ground and when to retreat. And apparently this is one of the times when he wants something enough to stand his ground.

“Normally I’d agree with you, Cat. And not just for the job security. But this artist is doing some great things that I think the world should see. It could give arts in schools a big push.” He’s so damn sincere that Cat just rolls her eyes and sticks a hand out for his proposal. She can at least give him a fair hearing after all.

But when she looks at the spread he’s suggesting, Cat’s breath catches in her throat in surprise. It’s a gorgeous shot of some fantastical landscape, with gleaming towers in strange shapes that draw the eye in. The level of detail is astonishing, the beauty breathtaking.

James knows better than to smirk when he sees her reaction, but she can tell the urge is there and shoots him a glare before scanning the accompanying article. It needs work, but for a rough draft proposal it isn’t bad.

Except… “There’s no picture of the artist, and no name. No details at all,” Cat points out, handing the article back to James as she lets the implied question linger.

“She’s very private,” he explains, and Cat tries to bite back a scoff. Private, but willing to put artwork like that out into the world? Still, Cat can respect that.

“We can make it about the art then. It’s doable. But one condition. I want to meet her.” Cat is prepared to buckle down and insist on that one, no matter what it takes. Something about that landscape…

“I’ll ask,” is all James will give her, and Cat knows that’s all she’ll get for now. Pushing can come later.

X

She gives it a week before cornering James again. The article had run, with great success, and now Cat wants her reward.

“She’s a little afraid of doing interviews,”James explains as he tells Cat she hasn’t agreed just yet. “Like I said, she’s a very private person.”

“Oh for god's sake, it isn’t for an interview, Olsen.” Cat says in disgust, wondering how someone so talented had misunderstood so completely. “I like her art and want to meet her, I’m not suddenly going to expose the entirety of her private life to the sharks.”

“I’ll uh, I’ll pass that along.”

X

It takes a month for him to convince the artist to meet with her. A month of glares and threats that don’t seem to be very effective at all. And if it were anyone other than James, the follow through would have been severe.

But eventually he comes through, and Cat has a meeting scheduled for Friday night with the mysterious artists. She knows nothing about the woman, not even her name, but James insists that her questions will be answered as long as she shows up and can convince the woman that it really isn’t an interview.

That’s what finds her on a lonely stretch of coastal road Friday evening after work, driving herself as the artist had insisted she come alone. And Cat has to admit, the secrecy is alluring in its way. She feels like she’s being let in on some grand plan or truth, rather than meeting an extraordinary artist. It’s a thrill she hasn’t felt since her early journalism days, and Cat relishes it.

No one is there to greet her as she steps out of the car once she arrives, so Cat takes a moment to study her surroundings. The cottage is small but lovely, and the views are priceless. They even put the view of Cat’s beach house to shame, with stunning cliffs in the distance that Cat imagines an artist could spend hours painting. She could certainly spend time describing them, if she were in the mood to do so.

But tonight she’s in the mood to meet a woman who’d captured her interest without a single word, so with one last long look Cat turns from the view and walks to the front door. She isn’t expecting it to swing open before she can knock, but she’s expecting the gorgeous young woman on the other side even less.

She’s younger than Cat would have guessed from her talent, probably in her mid twenties, with long blonde hair pulled back into a loose tail and eyes that remind Cat of the ocean behind her. It takes Cat a long second to find her words as she takes the sight of the woman in, from her paint covered jeans to the tight shirt that’s surprisingly clear of stains. And oh what a sight it is. 

“Miss Grant, James said you wanted to meet me,”she says, shifting from foot to foot as Cat stares.

“I did,” Cat says when she can finally think clearly again, putting a smile on her face and extending a hand. Time to be charming and hope the woman hadn’t noticed her blatant ogling. “The piece we profiled, and your work in general, was very captivating. I told him I wanted to meet the artist who could craft such amazing designs.”

“Well, why don’t you come in and we can discuss them, I suppose,” Kara says with a shy smile, waving her inside. “I’m Kara.”

Cat wants to ask for a last name, but she knows that pushing will only get her sent packing. For some reason Kara is intensely private about everything including her name, and Cat has to respect that. And someone who doesn’t even sign her paintings with a recognizable name isn’t likely to provide something as personal as a last name on first meeting, if ever.

Not that Cat blames her, a last name would almost certainly lead to a google search in a moment of weakness, and the last thing Kara deserves is some stranger digging through the internet in search of secrets she’d rather keep to herself. No, the investigative reporter still buried within Cat will have to keep quiet this time. This is a visit from Cat Grant, art aficionado.

“These are all lovely,” Cat says as she follows Kara into the sitting room, looking around at the various paintings decorating the wall. They cover a wide range of colors and scenery, but something about each tells Cat they’re all painted by the same hand. And even if the visit were to be cut short at this moment, Cat knows she should consider herself lucky to see such amazing work.

“They’re the ones I don’t think would sell, to be honest with you Miss Grant,” Kara says with a shy smile and shrug, and Cat gapes at her in amazement, her shock briefly overcoming her practiced mask of slightly aloof distance.

“First, it’s Cat. I’ll respect your privacy and not ask for your last name, but I won’t have us on different standings,” Cat says firmly but softening her usual bite. “Second, if you ever tire of looking at any of these, I will take them off your hands at whatever price you ask. They’re  _ spectacular _ , Kara.”

“Is that why you’re here, Cat? To buy a canvas or two? Because James could have passed an order along without you needing to make the drive,” Kara says, seeming uncomfortable with the praise and scrutiny alike.

“No, it’s not why I was willing to make the drive,” Cat admits, realizing she’ll need to open up if she wants anything in return from Kara, especially if she doesn’t intend to push. “The painting we profiled, it, well, it captured my attention. The scene is so detailed that the mind behind it has to be something special.”

“So you threatened James Olsen’s job until he got you a meeting because you liked my painting?” Kara says in disbelief, and Cat fights to keep the wince from her face. It’s the truth, but she doesn’t often think of how her usual tactics come across to those who aren’t around her every day. She’d only threatened James because his standing is so secure nothing else would have an effect, not because she ever intended to follow through with it.

“His job was never in actual jeopardy,” Cat admits, almost despite herself. “But I suppose that’s an accurate summary of my actions.”

“I don’t understand you,” Kara murmurs softly as she studies Cat, her gaze seeming to see right through the older woman. “Your words to James are harsh and cold, but the way you look at my work, it’s soft. The way I look at it.”

Cat lets Kara look at her for whatever answers she can find, forcing herself not to shift away from the intense scrutiny. She’d wanted this meeting, she’d fought for it, and now she’s going to see it through. But when Kara doesn’t continue, Cat begins to question herself and her decision to come here.

“Do you want me to go, Kara?” Cat asks, deliberately keeping her voice level and calm. She doesn’t want to leave, not without something to show for the trip, but she can’t intrude on this woman’s life if she isn’t wanted. Even if Cat’s done it to others in the past, something about this young woman makes it impossible to even consider doing now.

“No, I’m just trying to figure you out,” Kara says, tilting her head but not looking away. And something about it pulls at Cat’s memory, bringing another encounter from years ago to mind, and with it the answers to questions she would never have thought to ask.

Because Cat remembers that tilt, remembers being stared at with such piercing blue eyes. They’d been in another face, another city, but she remembers them all the same. Superman had looked at her like this as he’d looked into what most would call her soul, trying to decide what kind of person she was. And at the time, Cat had been found lacking. She’d been cold and focused, cruel and distant, more concerned with getting ahead and getting over losing Adam than anything else. She’d been hurting too much for someone to find good in her.

Now she wonders what Kara sees, whether that’s changed at all. Cat is still cruel at times, still cold and distant, but now she has something and someone to love. She’s had her second chance to do things right, and space to regret her mistakes and wish she could fix them. She wonders if it will be enough.

And of course she can say none of this to Kara. She can’t explain herself, or promise to keep a secret she shouldn’t know. All Cat can do is wait for judgement and hope she isn’t found wanting.

“I have a painting I might be willing to sell you,” Kara says after a long silence, with the slightest softening of the tension in her frame as she does. And Cat relaxes along with her, relieved that somehow she’s passed the test this time around.

“I’d love to see it, if you think I’d like it,” Cat says quietly, letting Kara take the lead once more. 

When the sheet over the canvas is swept away Cat can’t hold back her gasp, because this painting is even more beautiful than the ones in the living room, more detailed and exquisite than the one they’d featured in the magazine. This is a work of art in every sense of the word, and the fact that Kara is willing to sell it to her nearly moves Cat to tears, especially after the soul searching gaze from earlier.

“Name your price and I’ll pay it,” Cat breathes softly, not daring to look away from the canvas for fear she’ll find this is all a dream.

“A date,” Kara says, and Cat’s head snaps around to look at her in shock. “Your price for running the story was to meet me, my price for the painting is seeing you.”

And there are so many reasons Cat should refuse, but she doesn’t have the strength. She isn’t that good of a person, no matter what Kara had seen in her.

So rather than turn Kara down and walk away, Cat quickly agrees to a time and place, somewhere private and discrete so that Kara will feel comfortable. Somewhere that being out with the Queen of all Media won’t attract attention and invade her well protected privacy.

“Oh and Cat? My name? It’s Kara Zor-El,” Kara says as Cat is leaving. And the gesture of trust, far more than the painting or anything else, is what convinces Cat that she’ll never be able to push Kara away even if she should.

Whatever Kara sees in her, Cat will just have to learn to live up to it.


End file.
